Professional Headshots

First impression and your professional persona

The standard for headshots has risen among professional people, and “a decent looking picture” on a LinkedIn profile is inadequate for authentic presence in today’s competitive and image-driven business world.

You are expected to look confident and as if you love your job, even if you didn’t. How do you create that look? If you try too hard in front of the camera, that will ruin it, because you’ll look insecure, inauthentic or desperate. And that’s how many bad headshots are taken. Let’s avoid that.

A few other common mistakes to avoid:

keeping your old headshot for a younger look, failing to show your experience.

looking sloppy, unapproachable, insecure or nervous

take a casual snapshot, crop it and call it a headshot.

BEAUPIX recognizes corporate headshots as your career tool. Emotional intelligence has been a buzz word in the professional relationship; your headshot should be an evidence of it. That should not only make your work life easier but also help increase your networking potential and professional influence.

PROFESSIONALHEADSHOTS are popular among skill-based professionals such as architects, designers, scientists, engineers, dentists, and academics. Also appropriate for people in technology startup companies and other not-so-conservative organizations, including educational institutions and nonprofits.

The DIFFERENCES from TRADITIONALHEADSHOTS are mostly in the wardrobe styling, backdrop (dark gray for a traditional conservative look, lighter one for a modern professional look), and overall adjustments. The package options and fees are equivalent.

See traditional headshots for more info, sample image portfolio, packages/pricing. The session is easy, painless and engaging process.

Service & Pricing

Shooting corporate headshots at BEAUPIX is easy and painless. We designed unique and interactive workshop style photo sessions, which keeps you engaged and informed with the right amount of visual feedback throughout the session. We routinely work with people who emphatically tell us, as their way of greeting, they hate having their pictures taken but they can’t delay it further. With many years of experience working with such clients, this workflow was devised and shooting a studio headshot is now easier than shopping for a pair of shoes.

Package 1: for people who need one picture for corporate bio or LinkedIn, photographing 1 outfit look with a gray or white background in studio. We’ll take a couple of dozen photographs, with a quick image review to give you visual feedback and make sure we are on the right track. We’ll choose one the best image from the session, and enhance it with color correction, exposure/contrast adjustments. You’ll get the selected image in a high-resolution JPEG, as well as a second copy in low resolution for online uses. This session is quick, less than one hour. The session fee is $300 (including the image without watermark).

Package 2 (most popular): for people who wear multiple hats in the business world, photographing 2 outfit looks. You’ll have a choice of neutral studio backgrounds (gray, white or dull silver metallic), and more organic backgrounds (brick wall, vintage sliding steel door with subtly distressed texture, etc.) The headshots with the latter background may be shot with natural window light, depending on the weather and the time of the day. We’ll take several dozen photographs, on a few occasions to review the images to give you visual feedback and make sure we are on the right track. A typical session will yield up to 6 excellent pictures in a range of expressions. This session takes less than 2 hours. The session fee is $500 (including 6 images without watermark).

Package 3: for people who like variety, photographing up to 3 outfit looks. You’ll have a choice of neutral studio backgrounds (gray, white or dull silver metallic), and more organic backgrounds (brick wall, vintage sliding steel door with subtly distressed texture, etc.) The headshots with the latter background may be shot with natural window light, depending on the weather and the time of the day. The last outfit may be shot on a nearby outdoor location, weather permitting. We’ll take several dozen photographs, with a few breaks during the session, reviewing the images to give you visual feedback and make sure we are on the right track. A typical session will yield 10 or more excellent pictures in a range of expressions. This session takes less than 3 hours. The session fee is $650 (including 10 images without watermark).

RETOUCHING: for all headshot packages, natural look retouching is $80–120 range per image, depending on the work needed. You can decide retouching option after reviewing the pictures. You will be watching the retouching process in the studio, and you will have the opportunity to discuss which parts of the image to be retouched.

MAKEUP: for packages 2 and 3, professional makeup is available for $150. The makeup artist will provide custom natural look makeup and light, finishing hair styling. If you need elaborate hair styling, we recommend you go to your regular hair stylist first; if the hair gets messed during your travel, the makeup artist can finish the hair in the studio. If the session takes long, you have an option to pay for the extra time or release the makeup artist.

Sample Work Gallery

Click on the first thumbnail below to start a full-screen gallery. Use left/right arrow keys to navigate or swipe on iPad screen. To return, click on the (x) button in the lower left corner, or hit an ESC key.

These are a fair sample of real people we worked with, and they have a stressful work life like you. Many of those people started our conversation like “I am not photogenic, and I hate having pictures taken.”

Fantastic. I couldn’t be happier with the corporate headshot that Ryuji made. He made me feel comfortable, which helped him catch some good images. Later, he helped me choose the best one. Finally, he edited the image using Photoshop to clean it up and make the image cleaner. The end result was much better than I expected, and I’m very glad that I went to him. The image is professional but also friendly; just what I was looking for. I’ll certainly be coming back.

This isn’t a quick session where you take home the first photo that the photographer shot. He spends as long as he needs to get the right shot and then edits it into the perfect headshot. He’s also a pleasure to talk to, which makes the process great. He also cropped the headshot into a smaller image perfect for LinkedIn; getting that image alone would have been worth it.

Ryuji was fantastic to work with and I am a bit camera shy. Having my picture taken is right up there with getting weighed in my opinion. However, I needed some grown up formal/corporate style pictures and made the appointment. The whole process from appointment to consult to studio visit was smooth and seamless. I had my new picture (and got to choose through many) uploaded to my Linkedin profile before I even left the studio!

If you are looking for an outstanding professional headshot, Ryuji Suzuki is the man to go to. He gives great direction and gives honest feedback. Ryuji genuinely wants to help you get the best possible photo. He will consult with you before to know exactly what you want. He is very personable and makes you feel comfortable so you can relax and take a confident photo. It’s also great because he edits using Photoshop right in front of you. You get the edited final photos immediately.– Veronica S.

I had never gotten headshots before, but Ryuji put me at ease and did an excellent job. I am very happy with the results. Not only does he have an expert eye when it comes to lighting, setting, posture, etc., he was able to coach me along the way to help bring out my most natural and photogenic self.

At one point, when he noticed me stiffening up and feeling nervous, he gave me the control and empowered me to look into the camera and take the shots, myself. This evolved into us playfully doing simple movement exercises prior to each photograph being taken. As a dancer, I totally appreciated this and noticed that it subtly informed each photo, so that there was a quiet sense of excitement and personality.

During the process of sifting through the proofs and making choices, I trusted his eye, and ended up with photographs that I am very happy with. I would highly recommend Ryuji without hesitation.– K F.

Add-on options

For corporate/professional headshots, magazine-quality retouching is usually not essential, but if you can afford, it can significantly improve your impression. It removes temporary skin blemishes, lightening under eye circles and wrinkles, at 60–100 per image depending on the work needed. We perform retouching while you watch, a very detailed work that you won’t get bored watching. Since BEAUPIX does a lot of demanding fashion and beauty photography with in-house retouching, we have the level of skills that very few headshot photographers have. If you are particularly conscious about your facial features, a heavier retouching, such as facial contour correction (e.g., slimming face or fixing double chin) is also available.

For female professionals, good natural look makeup is essential. If you are comfortable doing makeup yourself, it is usually sufficient, but otherwise, the studio can arrange an experienced makeup artist for your session at an additional cost, starting at 150.